Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Canada and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Lakeside to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Cymande. All the underground hits.
All Soul II Soul tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yazoo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Piero Umiliani record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Con Funk Shun,
Can,
Soul II Soul,
The Residents,
Trumans Water,
Minnie Riperton,
Panda Bear,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Harmonia,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Donny Hathaway,
La Düsseldorf,
Masters at Work,
The Detroit Cobras,
Mark Hollis,
Stockholm Monsters,
Pulsallama,
Lalann,
Ultra Naté,
Lakeside,
The Modern Lovers,
Gabor Szabo,
Ultimate Spinach,
Pole,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Traffic Nightmare,
Shuggie Otis,
Albert Ayler,
Yusef Lateef,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Lower 48,
The Sound,
The Real Kids,
Stetsasonic,
Bootsy Collins,
Delon & Dalcan,
U.S. Maple,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Monks,
Deadbeat,
OOIOO,
The Doors,
Spandau Ballet,
The Selecter,
Barry Ungar,
New York Dolls,
Kenny Larkin,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Neu!,
Crispy Ambulance,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Terry Callier,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Urselle,
Quadrant,
The Evens,
Bobby Womack,
Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.